行ってきます | eetehkeymahss | we are leaving, and we will come back

Aug 14, 2017Aug 14, 2017

Kara in Korea [for 72 hours]

Going to Korea was like a breath of fresh (albeit hot and humid) air. Korea is, in many ways, the opposite of Japan. There was genuine chaos at times on the street, and the waiters showed exactly what they thought of your lamentable language skills (while smiling).

We packed a fair bit into the 3 days we were there, and slept only minimally (much to the detriment of my immune system upon our return). We explored a few different areas of the city and did some shopping, but mostly we ate all the good foods and went on a tour to the DMZ. We also scouted out plastic surgery options in the popular southern suburb of Gangnam (for those wanting to know more about recovering time and costs, we do have our reference book at home with us in case there’s ever a dull moment).

One of the things that I really loved about South Korea was the abundance of quality coffee! With such little sleep going on, we really needed it!

Below is us at the border town of Imjingak is an abandoned amusement park, where you have to wait 45 minutes while your paperwork is processed before you get to go into the demilitarised zone (DMZ) itself.

And finally, here we are in the DMZ. Unfortunately, as you can (or rather can’t see) see it was rather overcast so we saw none of North Korea. But we did hear some propaganda music drifting over the border. We also visited one of the tunnels (not for the claustrophobic or really tall) and the train station where trains once ran through to Pyongyang.

One of the last adventures we made was to the Ihwa Mural Village. Trekking up these steep slopes on a hot and humid summery day is not for the faint hearted, but I am glad we made the effort!